The Pattern of Variation between Diarrhea and Malaria Coexistence with Corresponding Risk Factors in, Chikhwawa, Malawi: A Bivariate Multilevel Analysis

Developing countries face a huge burden of infectious diseases, a number of which co-exist. This paper estimates the pattern and variation of malaria and diarrhea coexistence in Chikhwawa, a district in Southern Malawi using bivariate multilevel modelling with Bayesian estimation. A probit link was employed to examine hierarchically built data from a survey of individuals (n = 6,727) nested within households (n = 1,380) nested within communities (n = 33). Results show significant malaria [σ²μ₁=0.901 (95% CI:0.746,1.056)] and diarrhea [σ²μ₂=1.009 (95% CI:0.860,1.158)] variations with a strong correlation between them [r(¹,²)μ=0.565] at household level. There are significant malaria [σ²ν₁=0.053 (95% CI: 0.018,0.088)] and diarrhea [σ²ν₂=0.099(95% CI : 0.030,0.168) ] variations at community level but with a small correlation [r(¹,²) ν=0.124] between them. There is also significant correlation between malaria and diarrhea at individual level [ r(¹,²) e=0.241]. These results suggest a close association between reported malaria-like illness and diarrheal illness especially at household and individual levels in Southern Malawi.